In recent years, a novel form of ventilated seat cushion to be used in conjunction with automobile seat cushions has been proposed, this form of ventilated seat cushion comprising an economical single sheet member formed from resilient plastic which will support a body in spaced relation to a supporting structure, such as an automobile seat, to thereby provide ventilation between the body supported and the automobile seat cushion. Such members are formed from a single sheet of plastic which is permanently deformed to produce spacing elements or protuberances that not only will space the upper surface of the member above the supporting structure for ventilation but will resiliently rigidify the overall member so as to prevent an undesirable amount of flexing in use.
Examples of these body supporting structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,916 and in applicants' copending application Ser. No. 16,401 filed Mar. 1, 1979.
By ingenious relationships of protuberances formed by permanent deformation of a sheet of plastic material in the body supporting and spacing structures in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,916 and applicants' copending application Ser. No. 16,401, the sheet of plastic material is resilient in the realm of the forces exerted by the weight of a human body. The formed sheet of plastic material of these inventions can be used as a member which is rigid enough to retain its shape while at the same time exhibiting a springy characteristic so as to act as a cushion between a human body and a supporting structure. This is especially the case where the sheet of plastic material is superposed on an automobile seat cushion to achieve ventilation between the person supported on the sheet of plastic material and the automobile seat.
Although body supporting and spacing structures such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,916 and applicants' copending application Ser. No. 16,401 can be and are used without covering material, ornamental and/or cushioning covering material makes these products more attractive and desirable in use. Although it is practical to permanently attach ornamental and/or cushioning material to these body-supporting and spacing structures, for example, as disclosed in applicants' copending application Ser. No. 121,169 filed Feb. 13, 1980, it is much more desirable from the marketing viewpoint to have the covers attachable to and detachable from the body supporting and spacing structure. By this means, a merchant can have in stock a large number of the body supporting and spacing structures, which incidentally are nestable and therefore occupy small space in his establishment, and he can also have in stock many attachable and detachable covers of different color, ornamental appearance and price range, the last especially in respect to supplemental cushioning combined with the covering material to form a cushioned cover. Each customer selects the cover he desires and the selected cover is then applied to a purchased body-supporting and spacing structure. By the same token, the merchant can exhibit numerous different covers on part of his stock of body-supporting and spacing structures so as to present to prospective customers the several ornamental and cushioning covers in situ for selection by the customers. An additional advantage of the present invention is that the cover being cheaper than the body support member, the cover can be disposed of and replaced by a new cover of the same or different motif when the original cover becomes worn or soiled.